Holdout Republican Sen. Bob Corker finally announced he would support the Republican tax bill in an upcoming vote — after the proposal was tweaked in a way that could personally enrich him.
Corker claims he has not read the mammoth bill being sped through the legislature and has no idea how the language, which was not in previous Senate versions of the bill, got into the plan.
The provision reduces taxes on income from real-estate LLCs, according to International Business Times, which broke the story.
Corker, a South Carolina real-estate mogul, made $7 million off such income last year, while President Trump raked in between $41 million and $68 million, according to the outlet.
The House and Senate are reconciling disparate versions of the bill they separately passed before putting the final product on President Trump’s desk for a signature.
Neither previous version included the real-estate tax carve-out when first passed, IBT reported.
Corker, a Republican who opposed an earlier version of the $1.4 trillion bill because it will increase the deficit, pleaded ignorance when asked why he changed his mind after the tax carve-out measure was tossed in.
“I don’t really know what the provision does to be honest. I would need an accountant to explain it,” Corker told IBT, saying he only read a “two-page summary” of the 500-plus-page document released on Friday.
He sent a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch on Sunday asking the chairman to “provide an explanation” how the measure ended up in the final bill.